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Friday, March 30, 2012

I'm back today with more swatches of Nicole by OPI Spring releases that are set to hit stores in April. In addition to the four Target exclusive polishes and the six new Kardashian Kolor polishes, Nicole by OPI is releasing four texture coats to add to their existing line. These are a little different from standard crackle polishes and appear to be a cross between an effect top coat and a crackle...

Thursday, March 29, 2012

I was sad to read comments from those of you that like the new Nicole by OPI releases, but are unable to get them where you live. I tried to find a store that will ship internationally, but instead stumbled across a forwarding service, MyUS.com, which is used by a few retailers to ship internationally.

The service works by providing you with your own personal US shipping address. That address can then be used when making a purchase at ANY retailer in the US. When the package arrives at that address, it is automatically forwarded internationally to the final destination. For more details and information on how this works look at their site here.

UPDATE: If you were interested in this service, please take a look at the comments for this post. Sadly it was pointed out that this service does not allow shipping of nail polish, but there might be similar serviced that do...

Just as a disclaimer... I'm in no way associated with MyUS.com and have not personally used their service. I just thought it might interest those of you outside of the US who want to purchase items, but cannot get them shipped directly to you. For more information and shipping costs take a look at the MyUS.com website. Make your own decision if this service/additional cost is right for you. I'm in no way liable for any transactions made using this service (sorry, had to get that off my chest just in case :)).

Nicole by OPI is releasing a collection titled Wel-Kim to My World which includes six polishes to add to the existing Kardashian Kolor collection. They are due to hit stores in April. The additions include three creams, two shimmers and a glitter. All are sweet and light, perfect for spring. They all feature "Kim" as part of the name...

Time really has flown by fast and today is the last day of the Black and White Challenge. I have had a lot of fun with this challenge and wanted to do something special for the last day, which happens to be a manicure of choice with black and white. The design is not my original design, I stumbled across it in an old Nail Max magazine. I have been wanting to try it for a while and since it contains black and white, I thought it was perfect for the last day of the challenge.

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

A comment was made that the new Target exclusive Nicole by OPI Purple Yourself Together resembles an OPI purple shimmer named Dutch'ya Just Love OPI? from the Holland Collection. I must admit they do look very similar in the bottles so I was intrigued to try them side by side...

Today I want to show you swatches of the Target exclusive Nicole by OPI additions for Spring. The release includes two shimmers, one creme and one full coverage glitter. See for yourself which ones you like best...

Monday, March 26, 2012

I couldn't resist creating a camouflage manicure for a piCture pOlish aptly named Camo with the fun tagline of "Nowhere to Run, Nowhere to Hide!" To create this I used a dotting tool and dabbed random splotches of acrylic paints in grey, toffee, tan and green. It really doesn't get simpler than this, but the result is so fun. Makes me think of the Brad Paisley country song named Camouflage with the lyrics of "Ain't nothing doesn't go with camouflage... You can blend in the country, you can stand out in the fashion world..." Do you think I will blend or stand out with this? :)

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Day nine of the Black and White Challenge proved to be the most difficult yet. Difficult isn't even the right word, it really kicked my butt. Water marble is always a huge challenge for me and even though the results can be amazing the process of getting there sometimes doesn't seem worth it. I know you think I'm talking about the mess and the clean up, but no I'm talking about getting the colors to spread correctly and not bunch up when I try to marble. I just keep telling myself that practice makes perfect (and maybe someday I'll believe it). For now I'm just glad I didn't give up since I love how this manicure turned out.

It is Sunday, which means challenge day in the group Adventures in Stamping. The majority of people voted to take on a challenge of black and white stamping. I must admit, I was a bit disappointed at first since I'm already doing a full ten day Black and White Challenge, but then I realized that I have not actually done a stamped black and white manicure so I'm playing along.

Friday, March 23, 2012

I'm finally getting around to playing with the piCture pOlish polishes that I won in giveaways from Sawan and Mirannie's Nails. I guess I'm failing at my New Year's resolution to try polishes with 30 days of getting them. It is crazy how quickly time flies. Did someone accidentally set it on fast forward?

Thursday, March 22, 2012

It is day eight of the Black and White Challenge which means a sponged manicure. I had in mind a marble or granite look, so I turned to the internet for inspiration, as I often do. Somehow it helps to have a picture to stare at as I work. While searching for black and white stone, I stumbled upon a photo of Emma Stone in a black and white dress that I just couldn't resist...

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

I recently bought this Color Club collection at Ross and wanted to post swatches while it is still available. The collection is not new, I assume it is from 2010 based on the copyright date on the back. No names are listed on the bottles or the packaging and my attempts to contact Color Club resulted in no response. I was about to give up on finding names when Kirsten from Geeky Owl posted her Ross Haul which included this collection. Much to my amazement she had names listed! Long story short, Color Club provided the names in response to a question on their Facebook page. Yay! Thank you Kirsten :)

Monday, March 19, 2012

Day 7 of the Black and White Challenge really stumped me. The challenge was to create a black and white manicure with glitter and I just couldn't decide on what I wanted to do until the very last minute. I started out with Essence I Love My Jeans for the black base, then using a striping brush and white acrylic paint I added random slices of white. I used the holographic hex glitter from Elf Golden Goddess to accent the curves. Although the holographic effect of the glitter is hard to see in these photos, it was actually there. I like how this turned out, even though it bubbled like crazy around the glitter. I really need to get some glitter itself instead of having to pick it out of polish...

Sunday, March 18, 2012

For today's stamping challenge for the group Adventures in Stamping, I decided to try something I have not done before... a ruffian manicure. I started out with two coats of Sally Hansen Deep Purple followed by two coats of Sally Hansen Lacey Lilac. I can't say that I love it the ruffian look on me. This could be because all the layers make it look thick or because it visually shortens the already short nails. I might have to try it again on longer nails and with one coat polishes.

Sally Hansen Lacey Lilac is a sweet lilac cream. I am loving these type of pastels for spring, so this is perfect, if only spring would actually come. Seems unlikely after the hail we had last night. The cream formula was easy to work with. Two coats for full coverage. I love the slightly widened brush in these, it makes application so much cleaner. This is with a top coat...

Sally Hansen Deep Purple is a shimmery metallic grape purple with a blue shimmer. The color is most accurate on the index and pinkie fingers. It is not as blue as it appears on the other two fingers, but the camera likes to pick up the blue shimmer. The formula was not as pigmented as I expected. The first coat does apply fairly sheer. It did build up to full coverage with two coats, but still had problems wrapping around the tips. This may have benefited from a third coat. Swatches are with a top coat...

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Another post from me today to show you the actual manicure that I'm wearing today for St. Patrick's Day. It is kind of exciting to have the blog match reality for once. Usually there is a delay between when I wear something to when I actually get to posting about it.

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone! It looks as though I didn't catch a Leprechaun in time to get some luck since I managed to break a nail and had to cut them all. Maybe it is not such a bad thing though, sometimes shorter nails are good too.

I have for you swatches of another Crackle & Ice Duo from Pure Ice. It contains a shimmery metallic dark green named Not Now and a silver crackle named Lightning Strikes. The combo works really well to give a little pop of green through the crackle. Although for St. Patrick's day, I wonder if a gold crackle would have been a better match.

Friday, March 16, 2012

It is day 6 of the Black and White Challenge which means creating a manicure with a color base and something white. This fire engine red from Color Club's All About Color set really stood out to me, so I grabbed some white acrylic paint and a dotting tool and the pattern practically created itself. It somehow reminds me of traditional Belorussian/Ukrainian folk dresses and towels so must have come up from my subconsciousness. While the true folk patterns are much more beautiful, elaborate and complicated this one is just rows of dots layered. I have had dotting tools for a while, I'm just now starting to really play around with them and loving all the possibilities...

UPDATE: The Color Club polish is named Cadillac Red. See swatcheshere.

I would love to know what you think of this! :)
What is your favorite manicure tool?

Thursday, March 15, 2012

I was really lucky to be sent some amazing polishes by Barielle to play with. One of those polishes is a lovely flakie named Budda-Ful. The name led me to dream of lotus flowers on the corners of each nail. As it often happens, what I think up doesn't quite come out as I pictured it. In this case, I'm not convinced that I ended up with lotus flowers, but whatever flower that is, I do love the manicure.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

I'm back from vacation and trying to catch up with all that I missed, including your lovely comments to my scheduled posts. I'm sad to report that I did not see a sunset like the one I dreamed of here. Hawaii got hit with a major storm which lasted the entire week and included torrential rain, flooding, loudest thunder I have ever heard, lightening, high winds, hail the size of golf balls (luckily on the other side of the island) and more. The first few days we barely wanted to leave the hotel room, wearing rain ponchos whenever we went out. The last few days it started to clear up, but the tours around the island were still cancelled due to washed out roads. The storm is similar to one in 2006, which happens to be the last time I was there. Maybe I bring the bad weather with me? Oh well, it was still nice to get away from work for a week and spend quality time with my mom! :)

Now back to the matter at hand, Day 5 of the Black & White Challenge. The challenge was to create a manicure using a color base with black. I started out with a Color Club fuchsia polish that unfortunately does not have a name. It comes from an All About Color collection that I believe was released in 2010. I will post swatches of it soon. Using reinforcement labels, I blocked off random areas of the nails and applied one coat of Sinful Colors Secret Admirer, a pretty black with a silver shimmer. After removing the labels, I topped everything off with a top coat.

One thing that I learned is that not all reinforcement labels are made equal. I got cheap ones at the dollar store and while they do stick to paper, they refused to stick to my nails. I had to fight them to stay down the whole time, which resulted in a wobbly edge. I will definitely be trying this manicure with different labels next time...

I hope you enjoyed this manicure and I would love to know what you think of it!

Monday, March 12, 2012

I hope you have been enjoying the Sinful Colors swatches throughout
the past week while I was away, but now I want to show you what I
paired them up with. Each of them was topped with a different Essie
Luxeffect polish, which I won in a giveaway from Kristen of The Manicured Monkey. Thank you again Kristen, I love them :)

Saturday, March 10, 2012

It is time of another Black & White Challenge. For day 4, the challenge is to create a manicure with a white base and some color accent. Inspiration for this was in the form a bracelet given to me a while ago by a friend. I really like the symbols and flowers on it as well as how beautiful the blue looks against the white. I started out with Wet 'n Wild French White Creme and stamped the round symbols using Sinful Colors Midnight Blue and Bundle Monster plate BM-224. When stamped the blue is lighter than I would have liked, but not too bad. I then added the flowers using Midnight Blue, white acrylic paint, and a dotting tool...

I would love to know what you think of this manicure and where do you get your inspiration?

NOTE: This is a scheduled post. I appreciate all your comments and will respond as soon as I return from my trip! Thank you in advance for commenting :D

About Me

I am a self proclaimed craft nerd. I love all things crafty and will try just about any of it. Favorite hobbies include carving candles, decorating cakes, and making jewelry. In my free time, I love to play with nail polish! Questions/comments? Feel free to contact me at angalek@gmail.com